


blond, like you

by bunnaby



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Childhood Friends, Comfort, Crying, Gen, Hair Dyeing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-23 02:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3750751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnaby/pseuds/bunnaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He had to do this. All the other kids in his grade were doing it, and if he wanted them to stop pointing out how dark his hair was against his pale as snow skin, he needed to dye his hair too. If he fit in, they wouldn't notice him. They'd leave him alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	blond, like you

**Author's Note:**

> un beta'd, like seriously, i didn't even try to reread it once, but i wanted to post it. i'll probably read it tomorrow and edit out mistakes but until then, i hope you can enjoy ??

“So...what? I just...mix these bottles together and put it in your hair?”

 

“Didn’t you read the instructions?” Kenma shifted nervously in his seat, careful not to disrupt his parent’s  black towels carefully laid out around his feet. Standing behind him, Tetsurou shook the mysterious liquid in the bottle around while he read the back of the packet powder. Kenma could already feel regret bubbling up his throat.

 

But he had to do this. All the other kids in his grade were doing it, and if he wanted them to stop pointing out how dark his hair was against his pale as snow skin, he needed to dye his hair too. If he fit in, they wouldn’t notice him. They’d leave him alone.

 

“Of course not, it’s your dye!”

 

Tetsurou’s frustration tore Kenma from his thoughts. He turned around in his seat, prepared to explain the instructions, but Tetsurou was a step ahead of him and already mixing the powder into the developer. He turned his back to his friend again and hoped for the best. Kenma wanted to throw up.

 

“Just...be careful,” he spoke quietly, dropping his gaze to his lap, soon replacing the view with the top of his knees as he drew his legs against his chest and sighed. “And get all of it.”

 

“Sure you want me to do this?” Kenma nodded without skipping a beat. “You know, you’re gonna stand out even more.” Kenma stilled, sighed again more shakily, then glanced back at the taller, looking at him with distress in his brows and Tetsurou understood exactly what it meant. “Okay, okay. Hold still. It’s not my fault if it looks bad, got it?”

 

Kenma obliged, closing his eyes as he felt his friend’s hands card through his silky hair. The sound of the wrinkling gloves beside his ear almost made the experience unpleasant, but Kenma felt his nerves easing with visions of the future, of being left alone.

 

Slowly, the tips were covered in dye (he could tell by the too-hard tugging), feeling Tetsurou work his way up his length of hair. Neither of them had ever done this before, and Tetsurou wasn’t really using any procedure. Cover the hair in dye. That was enough.

 

An inch or so from his scalp now, Tetsurou paused to contemplate what would happen next. He had heard horror stories from some of the other boys in club about bleaching their hair, but Tetsurou expected them to have complications since they were dumb boys-- he wasn’t, so he saw no problem in continuing. Still, Kenma felt him pause and glanced over his shoulder questioning him with his eyes.

 

“Just admiring my work,” Tetsurou grinned, smug. Kenma shrugged his shoulders turned forward quickly. Tetsurou started adding dye to the roots of Kenma’s hair, working it in to make sure the entirety of it was covered. Minutes of silence passed, bleach now covering a majority of Kenma’s hair, until finally Kenma jerked his head away and hopped from the seat. He had been biting his lip the entire time, apparently, because when Tetsurou caught a glimpse of his face, his lips were red and welted. “I can’t take it anymore,” he bit his lips again along with the words, and this time Tetsurou could see that his eyes were growing glassy and tears threatened to spill. Without another word, Kenma was running to the bathroom down the hallway while peeling off his jackets, locking the door behind him. Tetsurou was there a second later, knocking, asking, “What’s wrong, Kenma? Did you decide you don’t want to be blond?” Kenma never responded, but the shower turned on and Tetsurou heard enough shuffling to know Kenma was getting under the water.

 

So much for that, he thought, and although he returned to Kenma’s bedroom and practically melted into the bed, he couldn’t help but wonder (worry) what thought had weaseled into Kenma’s mind to persuade him otherwise. Kenma always considered every factor before making a decision, so what had he missed now?

 

An hour passed without any sign of Kenma’s return, and even though Tetsurou was half asleep and lazy, he dragged himself out of bed and down the hall again, knocking on the bathroom door once more. “Kenma?” He called out, paused, then spoke again, “It’s probably not that bad. Let me see, c’mon, open up.” Kenma was quiet, but a few seconds later the lock on the door could be heard turning, and the door opened. There stood Kenma, the whites of his eyes an unsightly red and his hair half processed. It was an odd brassy brown, some spots blonder than other, and the roots were basically still black since Kenma hadn’t given them more than five minutes.

 

“Have you been crying?” He couldn’t help but blurt out, frowning along with it when he realized the words made Kenma flinch. Apologetically, he lifted his hand to touch the others hair (noting that it had definitely lost its silky qualities), running his fingers through the tangled, wet strands.

 

“It’s really n--” was all he could manage before Kenma was crying out and jerking away again. Confused, and honestly a little scared, Tetsurou curled his arms defensively to his chest and away from Kenma. “What is it?! What happened? C’mon, Kenma, you know you can tell me these things,” he comforted, hopefully, while Kenma started to cry again.

 

“It hurts!”

 

Tetsurou blinked. Hurt? How? He didn’t do anything.

 

“Sorry, did I pull your hair? That’s nothing to cry about--”

 

“It’s all red and scabby and it _hurts_ , Kuroo! I don’t know how you messed it up, but you did, and it _hurts_.” That said, Tetsurou stepped forward and took Kenma by his jaw, tilting his head down to get a closer look. What Kenma had said was right-- His scalp was a ton redder than before they started, and he could see some growing scabs.

 

This was their own horror story, he thought.

 

Horror story. Right. What his friends had said. Someone mentioned burning once, but Tetsurou hadn’t stuck around for the details at that point. Something about the bleach must have irritated his friend’s scalp, then and now, and Tetsurou honestly wasn’t surprised that him not listening was what caused trouble.

 

“Idiot!” he suddenly exclaimed, knuckles wanting to smash into Kenma’s head about now, “Tell me that it hurts sooner so I can stop!”

 

Kenma was wiping his eyes, the pain somewhat subdued when there was no direct contact with his scalp. The...brunet? for now? frowned, dropping his gaze to the floor. The spot where a glob of bleach had dripped onto his cheek during the escapade and been forgotten was also red, burned, and when his hair brushed over it, it idly pulsed to remind him of the pain. “I wanted to be blond.”

 

There was a moment of quiet, where a worried glance met sheer dejection. Tetsurou sighed. “Don’t pretend with stuff like that, okay? Seriously, tell me next time.”

 

Trying to smile, to ease Kenma’s worry, he added, “You can still be blond. We’ll dye your hair again but I won’t burn your scalp off this time. Don’t worry.”

 

Kenma was weary. He didn’t think Tetsurou was trying to hurt him on purpose for even a minute, but he still feared feeling the pain repeated. Maybe he would just go back to black hair, or keep the weird, brown mess he had now. As he panicked, Tetsurou patted his shoulder and pulled his messy thoughts together.

 

“Let’s try one more time. It’ll look good, I promise!” Another smug grin, and Kenma couldn’t say no.

 

\---

 

Another walk to the convenience store for a new box set of bleach and back, followed by a straight hour of processing and a shower, Kenma’s hair was a shade of yellow that wasn’t too abhorable except for at least an inch before his scalp. It wasn’t even either, there were strands that Tetsurou obviously missed, but for the most part, he was now friends with a blond Kenma. It was definitely different, something he’d have to get used to, but as he watched Kenma look in the mirror for the first time, he saw the tiny smile on his best friend’s lips and couldn’t help but smile himself. Worth it, if he knows Kenma won’t be feeling as nervous all the time.

 

“Looks pretty good. I’m kind of really awesome, huh?”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> whomp whomp i did this really quickly and it's probably full of mistakes o ops


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